What would put you off a house...?

caronoel

Any house that backs onto a public park, school, or a lane way.

It's a security risk, and God knows who could be hanging around after dark.

DairyQueen

Interesting thread.

After 40 years of property ownership I have learned my 'no-nos':
- urban location
- noisy (too many people, businesses, traffic, trains, planes)
- overlooked at the back
- without a bathroom on the same floor as the bedrooms (or the capacity to install one at reasonable cost)
- in a rundown location
- open-plan living-room/kitchen
- front door opening directly into the living room (last home had this). Draughts always make themselves felt, nowhere to hang coats, and dirt is constantly walked into the living room
- too big (there is such a thing)
- no outside, private space at the back
- a big garden (I don't have time to spend all summer maintaining it)
- limited, fitted storage and no capacity to install more
- minus a decent-sized kitchen/diner
- no working fireplace.

.... and my personal pet hate.....

- character properties that have been 'modernised' rather than sensitively improved (shudder). Such as 'upgrades' that remove or replace original fireplaces, cornices, windows, kitchen, bathrooms etc. with highly-stylised and/or 'maintenance-free' contemporary equivalents. The worst I ever saw on RM was a pretty, country cottage whose owners had removed all of the walls on the ground floor, installed a black-and-red kitchen, blocked the fireplace and replaced all of the original sashes with uPVC equivalents. It looked exactly like a new-build flat inside and languished on the market for two years before eventually being removed.

No off-street parking isn't a problem as long as there is ample on-street close by.

Couldn't care less about the cosmetics as long as the price is right, and many 'structural' issues are a great buying opportunity.

anonmum

hi,
My finances meant I couldn't be too picky on what I bought generally (couldn't get and didn't want a huge mortgage), just had to have two beds and be in a mile roughly ish of daughters college (I don't drive) and be liveable condition!

My house has coronation street stone cladding (in yellow), is a middle terrace, only back entrance is across 2 neighbours, 1 neighbour has access over my garden (only used for bins thankfully), garden is small, concreted and with artificial grass, kitchen is smaller than would like, no downstairs loo, suicidally steep staircases - in fact has nearly everything I would have put down on my ABSOLUTE NO NO list lol...but it was affordable, had enough bedrooms etc.

Some of the stuff I don't like I can change, some stuff I can't and will have to put up with! Looking at the positives its easy enough to pick my house out of the row of terraces with the cladding and I don't have to mow any grass! lol

helen x

AdrianC

YoungBlueEyes wrote: »

No-one's mentioned cellars though... Even if they are properly done and damp proofed etc, aren't they still just a bit creepy...? *shudder

Wish we had a cellar...

Davesnave

AdrianC wrote: »

Wish we had a cellar...

My BiL had a cellar and didn't know it, or he certainly wouldn't have been driving a digger on top of it!

When a small hole in the yard suddenly appeared, we discovered a room 22' x 8'. It was actually a disused reservoir from at least 150 years ago, but we didn't know that at the time; we just knew it was 'old.'

Then we had the awkward job of hiding it from the building inspector and hostile neighbour, either of whom would have had an interest for different reasons.....

It's now a store, and the entrance is outwith the house that was built, just in case.

ancientofdays

I really like the smell of cellars, I've never had one but I think my grandparents might have done, sone ancient rellies anyway.

A family I know locally have made their cellar into a TV watching room, so their actual sitting room is quiet and peaceful.

seven-day-weekend

We had a wonderfully dry 12 x 12 cellar in our terraced house that we had for forty years. It had power and heating. We used it for storage.

The house in Spain that we had for eight years had a 10 x 8 storeroom off the kitchen. It had huge thick walls, part of the mountain the house was built on in the corner and a hole in the wall for ventilation. That too was a great storeroom

Although I love my bungalow, I really miss my cellar and my storeroom.

tiernsee

Interesting thread.


I think over the years my wants have changed. Now musts would include detached, parking (no shared drives or permit parking), not too remote (walking distance to shops), more than one toilet and very little outside space.


Decorations really don't matter, they can be changed but fundamentals like location cannot be. Previously I would have said a bath is a must, but now just having a shower or a wet room would not put me off.

victoriavictorious

DairyQueen wrote: »

Interesting thread.

After 40 years of property ownership I have learned my 'no-nos':
- urban location
- noisy (too many people, businesses, traffic, trains, planes)
- overlooked at the back
- without a bathroom on the same floor as the bedrooms (or the capacity to install one at reasonable cost)
- in a rundown location
- open-plan living-room/kitchen
- front door opening directly into the living room (last home had this). Draughts always make themselves felt, nowhere to hang coats, and dirt is constantly walked into the living room
- too big (there is such a thing)
- no outside, private space at the back
- a big garden (I don't have time to spend all summer maintaining it)
- limited, fitted storage and no capacity to install more
- minus a decent-sized kitchen/diner
- no working fireplace.

.... and my personal pet hate.....

- character properties that have been 'modernised' rather than sensitively improved (shudder). Such as 'upgrades' that remove or replace original fireplaces, cornices, windows, kitchen, bathrooms etc. with highly-stylised and/or 'maintenance-free' contemporary equivalents. The worst I ever saw on RM was a pretty, country cottage whose owners had removed all of the walls on the ground floor, installed a black-and-red kitchen, blocked the fireplace and replaced all of the original sashes with uPVC equivalents. It looked exactly like a new-build flat inside and languished on the market for two years before eventually being removed.

No off-street parking isn't a problem as long as there is ample on-street close by.

Couldn't care less about the cosmetics as long as the price is right, and many 'structural' issues are a great buying opportunity.

^^^All of this ^^:. Could've been written by me!

TamsinC

Having spent years and years living in MOD properties - my big no-no's are

an MOD property
bland and no character
overlooked
no parking
crowded area/ rundown area

Must haves are
decent sized kitchen can be linked to a dining area not important though
a separate sitting room
upstairs and downstairs WC
utility space (doesn't have to be a separate room can be around a corner)
space and light
decent garden as many of the ones we have had have been postage stamps and we never get the benefit of doing anything to them